SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A new website called CheapMealsNearMe.com lets users search for affordable menu items by area, food type and price.
Andrew Fisher has never been a big spender, and after moving to San Diego, he noticed how quickly the cost of eating out could add up.
According to Numbeo.com, a crowd-sourced online database that tracks consumer costs, a three-course sit-down meal for two without drinks can cost anywhere from $75 to $210 depending on the restaurant. Fisher said a meal for himself at a chain restaurant usually runs him just under $30.
"The average meal out in San Diego is somewhere around like$20 or $25, so it's just good to find those options where there's these little hole in the wall places that offer something that's a little bit more affordable, so you can take your family or your girlfriend in my case," Fisher said.
Fisher said finding those deals has not been easy.
"Before now there wasn't really any central location. You could go on reddit threads and go to yelp. And it just took a lot of work each week. You end up spending an hour or two each week looking for a place then you're spending more time doing that than you are actually enjoying the place," Fisher said.
So he built a solution. His website, CheapMealsNearMe.com, allows consumers to search for restaurants that have menu items under $10. Users can filter results by area, type of food and price. The site also displays the last time a menu item was verified, and users can submit updates if prices change.
"There's also an option here for creating a list so you can create your own list and curate a list of places and then send that to your friend," Fisher said.
Fisher said he is not currently making any money from the website. Instead, he sees it as a way to support a mission he cares about — helping mom-and-pop businesses.
"We're going to support the little guy, support the restaurant that's not selling out to private equity that's offering prices that are affordable to the community and that's representative of the community," Fisher said.
Fisher said he grew up in a lower-middle-class household where eating out was considered a luxury.
"I spent a lot of time in thrifty stores as a kid .. so like going out to eat was kind of a luxury .... and then moving here to San Diego .. it's like you have all these options," Fisher said.
Visit the website https://cheapmealsnearme.com/.
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